When you're sick
by Coffee-and-hot-chocolate
Summary: Italy catches a cold while at Germany's place and has to stay at home instead of attending a meeting. Sadly, it seems he can't stop thinking today, what happens when Germany comes home early and finds him crying? One-shot.


**Hey guys, so this kinda came into my head and I decided to write it, hope it isn't too bad :P  
Disclaimer, I don't own Hetalia**

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He groaned as the sun shone in through the window and rolled over. Italy felt terrible, his nose was blocked and runny, his throat was sore and he was shivering. Damn winter and the colds it brings with it. He also felt terrible mentally, the words 'useless' and 'stupid' floating around his head, and he knew he wasn't going to have a good day today. He brought the blankets closer to him in an attempt to regain some warmth but to no avail. If only Germany had stayed in bed, but he had gotten up to make breakfast before Italy had even woken up.

"Italy! Get up now, we have to be at a meeting in an hour!" Germany yelled from downstairs. Italy was currently staying at Germany's place for the meeting, but his people were all pretty sick and on the way here Italy must have caught something. He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and sniffed, trying to stop his nose from running, and made his way downstairs, still shivering from the cold.

"V-ve~ Good morning Germany," he said with as much energy as he could muster. Apparently that wasn't much because instead of his usual remark of "hurry up and eat we have to leave soon" Germany turned around with a frown on his face.

"Italy, are you feeling okay?"

"I feel kind of cold, and-" he paused to sneeze, wrapping the blankets around his frame tighter, why was it so cold?

"You sound terrible," Germany said, passing him some tissues. Italy muttered thanks and blew his nose, feeling a hundred times better afterwards. "I think you should stay home today, not only would you be useless at a meeting like this but you would probably infect everyone else too," Germany told him, leaving no room for an argument.

"Okay," Italy replied weakly, sitting at the table and eating the cereal the other had made for him. Germany frowned at the lack of the other man's usual energy.

"Well, I should go now, I am hosting the meeting today and I need to make sure everything is set up. Make sure not to make a mess while I'm gone," he said sternly, Italy nodded. "Oh, and Italy?" Said man tilted his head as if to say 'what?'. "Make sure you get some rest so you can get better, okay?" He gave on of his rare smiles before he left the room, pausing only to pull on a thick jacket and then leaving. Once he had finished his cereal, or as much as he could, he quickly washed his dishes before making his way to the couch and sitting down tiredly, falling asleep immediately.

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Two hours later he awoke to Germany's dogs barking. Of course, the man probably had no time to feed them this morning and assumed Italy would do it. Sitting up, he winced at a sudden headache; colds seriously sucked. He left his blanket on the couch for later and made his way into the kitchen, retrieving some painkillers and a glass of water, quickly downing it. Sighing in relief he went to put the glass on the counter when it slipped from his hands, shattering on the floor. He yelped at the loud noise and quickly knelt down, attempting to pick up the pieces as he would when Germany was home to erase the evidence but instead he only succeeded in cutting his left palm open. He winced, tears filling his eyes. ' _Can't I do anything useful?_ ' He thought, his illness only adding to how sad he was. He sank to his knees, trying to collect the pieces of glass and clean up the mess a quick as possible, tears beginning to fall down his face. He managed to cut his left hand open even more and gave up, throwing the pieces back on the ground miserably.

He missed Germany, he could help him and he always knew how to make him feel better when he was upset. He did it subtly, though, the stoic person that he was. Italy smiled shakily, the memories making him feel slightly better. Looking at his hand, he felt incredibly stupid. ' _Why the heck did I try and pick this up with my hands, I should know better than that, I guess the others were right, I'm just useless, stupid Italy. That's why they call me 'Hetalia', unskilled Italy, seems quite fitting_ ' he thought miserably, his sadness returning. This is the reason he hates being alone, his thoughts catch up to him and make him miserable for hours on end.

' _I should feed Germany's dogs I guess_ ' he wiped away some of the tears, although they continued to fall, and made his way outside, grabbing the dog food and pouring it into the bowls. it was a miserable day, dark clouds covering the sky and not an inch of blue could be seen, it fitted Italy's current mood quite well.  
"Okay sit, and... Alright, you can eat!" He said to the dogs as they looked at him eagerly. The two Rottweilers dug in immediately and Italy watched them eat thoughtfully for a moment before he decided to sit on the swing tied to the massive jacaranda tree further out in the yard. For some reason swinging on a swing always helped him feel better, the cool air helping to clear his thoughts. The tree sadly was not in bloom but the leaves covering the tree giving it a relaxing feel as he made his way towards it.

He sat down, arms wrapping around the rope and he swung a little, not bothered to muster up enough energy to swing high. His mind was elsewhere. ' _Why can't people see that I don't want any more wars. Maybe I am just useless, no one says otherwise, they only say that I'm weak, useless, stupid, Italy who doesn't know anything. Maybe they're right..._ ' he thought sadly, the tears beginning to fall harder. He had been told he was every one of those things so many times, he was starting to believe it himself, that he was stupid and useless, that he had no worth. He hung his head as tears dripped into his lap, why couldn't he be good enough for them, is that why Grandpa Rome had left him, why Holy Roman Empire had left and never returned again because he didn't want to see him anymore? He gritted his teeth, trying to stop the sobs that wanted to escape his mouth, but eventually he gave up, burying his head in his hands as he cried. he was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice the rain begin to fall, at first only a light drizzle before it became much harder, his tears washed away by the rain.

A hand on his shoulder a few minutes later made his breath catch and he peered up between his fingers. His honey eyes met those of a concerned Germany and he quickly wiped his tears away, trying to think up an excuse.

"V-ve, H-hello Germany," he said shakily, wiping the last tear away and putting a smile on his face. "Why are you home early?"

"The meeting was let out early because America set fire to the room and we needed to reschedule for next week. Now tell me, what's wrong, Italy?" He asked, concern shining in his blue eyes.

"N-nothing, I just got something caught in my eye and it really hurt" he lied, hoping the other would fall for it.

"Italy, I know you're lying, now tell me what's wrong"

"I-it's nothing Germany, don't worry about it, I'm fine" he sniffled.

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't be sitting out here in the cold rain, crying"

Italy finally took in his surroundings and noticed that it was raining. the dogs had taken cover under the porch, sleeping in their beds. The tree provided some shelter against the weather, but not much. He shivered, suddenly realising how cold he was. He glanced back at the German who was waiting with his arms crossed patiently. "It doesn't matter anyway, why would you care?" He mumbled, giving up on the whole 'there was something in my eye' excuse.

"Feliciano!" Germany exclaimed, causing said man's head to whip up, nations rarely ever used each other's human names unless they deemed it necessary. "Of _course,_ I care, please tell me what's wrong, you're my best friend and I want to help you" he continued once he had gotten Italy's attention, staring into his eyes the whole time. Italy's eyes filled with tears again and he couldn't stop himself from jumping up and into his friend's arms, sobbing. Germany must have expected this as he was quick to wrap his arms around Italy, rubbing his back and muttering "it's okay" and "I'm here now".

A few minutes later his sobs had died down to sniffling and the occasional hiccup, but he still held on to Germany, not wanting to let go of the warmth but he knew he would have to soon enough.

"How about we go inside and I'll make us some hot chocolate and you can tell me what's bothering you?" Germany suggested. Italy nodded slightly, releasing the other man but he held onto his hand as he was led into the house, not realising how cold he had been until the warmth of the fireplace hit him and he shivered.

He was led into the living room and he sat down in front of the fire while Germany left to go make hot chocolate as he had said he would. Italy drew his knees up to his chest and rested his head upon them, sighing. He didn't know how to explain himself to Germany but he knew he had to, the other man would never leave him alone until he did and would probably bring his brother into it if he refused to tell him what was wrong.

Germany walked in with two mugs of hot chocolate a moment later, handing one to Italy before he carefully sat down next to him on the floor, trying not to spill his beverage. "So, what happened? You seemed fine this morning and I was only gone for a few hours" Germany asked after a moment of silence.

Italy sighed again, sipping his drink before mumbling "I don't know, I had a nap and when I woke up I had a headache, so I went to get some pain killers but I dropped the cup and then I just felt so useless and stupid and all the things the other nations say about me kept going around my head and then I just ended up crying then you found me" he rambled on, lowering his head and avoiding eye contact with Germany.

Germany sighed and gently grabbed his friend chin, turning Italy's face to look up at him, "Italy, you're not stupid nor are you useless, I will admit you can be silly at times, but everyone is. The other nations are wrong and don't know you like I do, they don't know about your art skills or cooking skills or how you love to make people happy and they take these things for granted, but I know you do your best to make others happy. Now you need to focus on yourself" he was red by the end of his speech, but still gave Italy one of his rare smiles.

With tears in his eyes once more, Italy threw his arms around Germany once more, mumbling "thank you Ludwig" into his chest as he held him tight. Germany only smiled, glad he could cheer his friend up and wrapped his arms around the Italian, for once allowing himself to show emotion, if only for his friend.

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 **Done!  
Hope you guys enjoyed it.**


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